Workers Fear Potential Shutdown Of GM Canada’s Oshawa Assembly Plant

Contract negotiations between Detroit’s automakers and the Canadian auto workers union officially began last month. This means that workers at General Motors’ beleaguered Oshawa Assembly Plant will be looking for reassurance from the manufacturer that the plant will continue to be utilized, despite the fact it has been steadily losing vehicles to produce.

The factory covers 5.1 million square feet, employs some 2,400 hourly workers. Because Oshawa Assembly has been very much underused as of late, GM says that it will need to know labor costs before making a decision about whether or not to invest in the plant. Uncertainty about plans for Ford’s engine plant in Windsor and Fiat Chrysler’s assembly plant in Brampton bring additional levels of tension to the labor talks. 

Oshawa Assembly currently produces the Chevrolet Impala, the Chevrolet Equinox, the Buick Regal, and the Cadillac XTS. The plant also built the Chevy Camaro until last year when GM moved production of the car to Lansing, Michigan. This brought around $175 million in revenue and some 500 jobs to the United States, but the Oshawa plant lost around 1,000 jobs in the move. GM is also expected to move at least one of the vehicles still produced in Oshawa to production lines in either Mexico or China.

The manufacturer recently announced that it would discontinue production of the Equinox next year and they believe that the XTS will be the last vehicle produced at Oshawa Assembly through 2019. 

Unifor president Jerry Dias told the Toronto Star that the union "firmly believe(s) General Motors will exit Oshawa unless we have a firm commitment." He also feels that, should GM pull out of Oshawa, it would signal an end to Canada’s auto industry. "We are absolutely committed that that’s not going to happen," said Dias.

Dias also cited a $5.4 million investment GM gave the the UAW and U.S. plants last year, and he expects them to do the same for their Canadian plants.

 

GM released a statement after the initial talks with Unifor , stating that they "are proud of the experience, quality and productivity of (their) Canadian workforce... These negotiations are an important first hurdle in building a business case for future investments in Canada."